


We meet again

by WiseDragonGirl



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Blood and Injury, Duel Monsters, Duelling, Gen, Major Character Injury, Problems, Tournaments, War, minor profanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-31
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 08:51:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 22,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2541665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WiseDragonGirl/pseuds/WiseDragonGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Kaiba and Yugi had their dealing with Dartz, Zigfried and Bakura everything calms down again. Kaiba picks up his usual life again, but now has to fight a different kind of enemy when rumours arise that Kaiba Corperation is still involved with war. The past is catching up with the Kaiba brothers and war is coming close to them. Will they be able to deal with it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The story takes place after the final season. Events from season 4 and 5 may be mentioned. If you haven't watched these, it may be possible this story contains spoilers.

_** Prologue ** _

 

After the last events everything settled down again. Seto Kaiba was still not willing to acknowledge it really had happened. It was a dream, for all he cared. Just a dream, he hadn't really gone to ancient Egypt and help defeat that monster. Not that those dweeps would have made it without him, but still. For a moment he was lost in those memories, before he shook them off. 

With his long and slender fingers he rubbed his temples. He really needed to focus on his company again. The ice-cold blue eyes fixated on the screen in front of him. He wouldn't let ghosts of the past keep him occupied. The past was exactly that: the past. He lived now and he needed to focus his attention on his company. Kaiba Corporation had a reputation to uphold after all. And money had to made. And there had been too many cases he had almost lost the company, that was something he wouldn't allow to happen again.

There had been too many encounters with ghosts of the past to his liking. All that nonsense with ancient Egypt, which was all to blame on Ishizu of course. And his own, of which he didn't like to be reminded. Although it was impossible to look at the logo of Kaiba Corp and not think about his stepfather and what the company used to represent. Something Alister had continuously reminded him of, the bastard. 

As long as the ghosts of the past would remain just there, Seto would be pleased. With the new idea he had he really didn't want to be disturbed by those.


	2. It's not a game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unaccaptable proposal is made during a meeting.

The tall glass building, standing out above the other buildings, was guarded by two Blue Eyes White Dragon. A small boy on his mothers hand pointed at them, yelling there were dragons standing there. But his mother laughed and said the were only statues. A boy with long, black hair grinned as he passed the little boy and his mother, as he walked into the large building. The grandeur of their company often amazed people and it made him proud that his brother was the CEO of all this. He ran passed the information counter, briefly waving at the woman sitting there and quickly entered an elevator. With a push on the button, the doors silently closed and the elevator brought him to the top floor. There he entered an office, where a brown-haired teen was sitting at the desk, his fingers going quickly over the keyboard of his laptop.

“Big brother, have you seen the news?”

“What news, Mokuba?” Seto Kaiba asked, without taking his eyes from the screen.

“The duel-disk system is rated first in the recent electronically gadgets ratings.”

“Hm.” That was all the reply that came out and Mokuba sighed.

“You could show some enthusiasm about that.”

“Why would I be surprised? I designed it.”

A grin appeared on Mokuba’s face as he shook his head. It was true, his brother designed the technology that brought the cards from duel monsters to live with holographic images, both the stadiums as the mobile duel-disk system, their prize product. Their company was specialized in the entertainment and gaming industry, with holographic and virtual technology as their key focus. The first they were well-established in, the second was still in development stages and with the hacked test game and later with Noah’s virtual world, his brother wanted to have the safety programs fail-proof before bringing it to the market.

The phone on his desk rang and Seto picked it up with a short and annoyed ‘Kaiba’.

_“Hey Kaiba! We all were going to the duel monster happening down town. Wanna come?”_

“Wheeler,” Seto grumbled in the phone. “I don’t have time for such nonsense. I have a job to do.”

_“Say what? Come now, you can’t work all the time.”_

“Listen Wheeler, I have better things to do then to hang out with you dweeps. I have a company to run.”

_“Ever thought of personality lessons, rich boy? Jeez, why do I even bother? Yug can ask himself next time. This is just a waste of time.”_

“Exactly. Remember that for the next time.” With this Seto hung up, grumbling about being disturbed for something trivial as that. It’s not because they had to work together against Dartz a while ago that they were all friends now.

A secretary came in to remind Seto of the meeting and he sent her away with an icy glare. He knew that and didn’t have to be reminded to it. A meeting with the board of directors, where past figures and numbers would be discussed, and running and future projects were evaluated. One of them being virtual games, like the one he had tested after duelist kingdom. And he had written down some ideas for a new project after that, but he wasn’t going to discuss that on the meeting just yet. He wanted to build the prototype first.

 

When the time came for the meeting, Seto Kaiba got up from behind the desk, his long purple coat moving violently from the sudden movement.

“Let’s go, Mokuba.”

Mokuba quickly followed his brother, who never seemed to walk calmly. He followed him into the meeting-room, where the older men were all sitting and talking to each other, but they stopped the moment Seto walked in. Ignoring them, Seto walked to up front and glared at the men, who seemed to be uneasy under his look.

“Let’s hear it.”

With these words the meeting started.

Kaiba was sitting, listening to what his underlings had to say. There was some arguing back and forth about what the company money should be used for.

“About these virtual games,” one of the directors said. “Study has shown that war games and other types of first-person shooters are highly popular for the pc and other platforms. Maybe we should create a virtual war game.”

Even though this idea got approval from the others, Seto sent the speaker an ice-cold glare.

“No.”

“But mister Kaiba…”

The glare in his eyes became even more intense. “No, we will not create such a game,” he said with a deadly calm and ice-cold voice. “War itself is bad enough, why should I want to re-create that in a game?” The tone in his voice dropped to a dangerous one. “If I would be interested in that, I could have just kept Kaiba Corp as a weapon company and let my step-father use my idea for virtual software for war instead of games. Since I took over his company, we are not affiliated with war in any way. Did I make myself clear?”

With the directors quickly saying it was very clear and that it was a good view to uphold, Kaiba got up, saying the meeting was over and left without another word.

Mokuba quickly following him. They didn’t speak, until they were in Kaiba’s office again.

“You made the right decision there,” Mokuba said and Seto nodded.

Kaiba Corperation wasn’t the same company as his step-father had created. Before Kaiba had taken it over, it was a big company in arms dealing. But he turned it around and made it a gaming company instead.

There were still people out there who knew what Kaiba Corperation was in the past and coming out with a war game could seriously hurt their reputation. And he just didn’t want to come out with such a virtual game, it went against his own beliefs.

He had dealings with concerned parents in the past that felt his holographic images made the card game to violent, but he always was able to come with arguments to ease their minds. Pointing out that the images were the same as the cards and even though the monsters battled each other, when destroyed they just shattered in pieces instead of some gruesome death, almost similar to tearing up a card, was usually enough. The uproar that would come with virtual war games wouldn’t be dealt with that easily. He knew that and therefore he wouldn’t do it.


	3. The encounter

Days passed and the Kaiba brothers were in Seto’s office. Mokuba was watching the news on the big screen television there and Seto was going through some statistics on his laptop when the phone rang.

_“Mister Kaiba,”_ the agitated voice of Roland came through the speaker. _“Some guy just ran in, before our security could stop him.”_

“Show me the video images,” Seto calmly commanded. “And what elevator is he going to?”

In a moment the security images appeared on his screen as he listened to Rolands explanation of what happened. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the man in the images.

“It’s alright, let him come to my office.”

Mokuba looked puzzled at his brother. This was not the response he had expected. On the other side of the phone, Roland was also looking surprised, but he relayed the order to the security staff and directed them to Kaiba’s office, so they could intervene when necessary.

It wasn’t long before the door slammed open and a young man with short red hair came rushing in, an angry look in his grey eyes. He walked over to the desk, bend over and grabbed Seto’s collar.

“You’re going to far! The last time we met you were constantly saying that you changed Kaiba Corporation, that you didn’t want to have anything to do with your step-father. That you were different, that your company was different! I believed you, Kaiba! And now…”

Seto grabbed Alisters hand and pulled it from his clothing. “What in the world are you talking about, Alister? Kaiba Corporation isn’t the same as you know it, I explained that to you. It’s not my fault your little brother died in some war with weapons created by my step-father!”

“So you say.” Alisters hand formed a fist. “And I actually believed that. But this proves how wrong I was to believe that. You have no intention to change!”

“And what do you base this nonsense on? We’re a gaming company! I have no intention to carry on my step-fathers work. I destroyed his research facilities and factories!”

“Then why is your company launching a virtual game featuring all the KC weapons and tanks?!”

Seto stared at him, he knew for sure they weren’t launching such a game. He shot down that idea in the meeting and nothing could be created without his approval. “Nonsense, I would know such a thing.”

“Don’t try to deny it, the word is out on the street.”

Seto’s icy blue eyes narrowed again. “I never gave the approval for such an idea. Better yet, I clearly stated we would never come out with a virtual war game.”

He grabbed the phone and dialled a number, ignoring the angry Alister in front of his desk.

“Who are you calling?” Mokuba inquired, carefully watching Alister and moving towards his brother.

“Melissa, who else?”

Mokuba looked up to his brother, another puzzled look on his face, but then he nodded. Of course he would call the head of the PR-department. There would be need of a press conference sooner or later and she needed to know about rumours that could damage their reputation. Or actually, she should have informed them about such rumours.

When the phone was picked up by Melissa, Seto immediately began to speak.

“Melissa, why haven’t you told me people think we’re coming out with a virtual war-game featuring the weapons created by my step-father?”

_“Because this is the first I hear about that, mister Kaiba. Are we coming out with such a game?”_

“We’re not,” Seto grumbled in the phone. “You know my view on the matter.”

_“I do, mister Kaiba. Give me some time to figure out what is going on.”_

“You’ve got an hour.” Seto hung up and brought his attention back to Alister, who was still looking angrily at him. “I’ll look into the matter. Thanks for pointing it out and go home.”

“You can’t just sent me away like that,” the red-haired teen grumbled as he slammed his hands on the desk. “After all that’s been said and done on that plane…”

“I can and I will! Just like the last time you refuse to listen to me, you just want an excuse to be angry with me, because of what happened to your little brother, because of the name I carry. I will prove that you are wrong again, Alister. Trust me.”

Alister looked at Seto, his cold, grey eyes examining him. Then he straightened his back and folded his arms in front of his chest. “Very well, Kaiba. Proof it to me.” With this, he left the office.

Seto’s elbows were resting on the desk, his chin resting against his hands and he watched Alistert leave.

_I will prove it to you, Alister. To you and everyone else. Kaiba Corporation is better then it once was._

 


	4. The rumours spread

Alister had left the office and Seto returned to his work. He was going over the latest sales-statistics and Mokuba turned on the television to watch the news of 6 o’clock. Knowing his brother they would be in the office for at least another hour before they would go home.

The newsreader told his viewers about a civil war somewhere on the planet and the stocks of a bank going down, but then an image of Kaiba Corporation appeared on the screen and Mokuba blinked a few times.

“Seto? We’re on the news.”

“What?” Seto looked up from the computer and watched the television, where there was a life broadcast of people that had gathered outside the door of the building. “What the…” He grabbed his phone and dialled a number. “Don’t tell me you don’t know a crowd has gathered in front of our building protesting against the release of the new game?!” he shouted in the telephone. “Find out what is going on and sent Melissa to deal with them!” He slammed the handset back on the telephone and watched the television screen with an intense glare.

“Who did you call?” Mokuba asked.

“Roland, who else?” Seto grumbled. He folded his hands together, letting his elbows rest on the desk and let his chin rest on his hands. Somehow the rumour he had only discovered this day had already spread. The people out there seemed to know a virtual war-game was going to be released, even though he had not given his approval for such a game.

He watched as Melissa walked up to the people and talked with them, reassuring them that no such game was coming out, but the crowd didn’t seem to take her word for it.

Seto pushed his chair back and got up, picking up the handset of the telephone once more and dialled a number.

On the television screen Mokuba could see Melissa holding the earplug in her ear as his brother said he would be down in a second. Melissa nodded and informed the crowd the CEO would come down and talk with them.

Seto walked around his desk, through his office and opened his door.

“Seto, what about me?” Mokuba asked.

“Stay here, in case someone calls or Roland comes.”

Mokuba nodded and looked back at the television, where Melissa was still having a though time calming the crowd down. And moment later his brother walked out of the building and with calm steps walked towards the crowd.

After Seto exited the building and stood alongside of Melissa, who looked at him with a relieved expression on her face, he raised a hand to silence the crowd. His eyes moved over the protesting signs and banners they had brought along. “I’m here to make an official statement," he started as he looked around. "Kaiba Corp is not going to create a virtual war game featuring weaponry created by the company in the past. Kaiba Corp is not going to create any virtual war game, period. Any questions about that? Or was that clear enough for all of you.”

“But the news is,” one of the protesters started, but he was cut short by Seto.

“Those are false rumours of which I don’t know who spread them. We are investigating that right now. I repeat, for those who missed it the first time. We are not developing a virtual war game and we are not going to. Is it clear now? Leave, before I call the police.”

Amongst the crowd he noticed Alister and for a moment they looked at each other, before Seto turned around and re-entered the building, leaving Melissa to deal with the rest.

He walked straight into an elevator and pushed the button that would take him to the top floor. The doors closed with the hissing sounds of hydraulics and the elevator quickly rose to the top floor, where the doors opened again. Seto walked out of the elevator and into his office, where he noticed Mokuba was talking in the telephone.

“…no, I told you we are not developing that game….well, I don’t care who told you, it’s just not true and I-“ Mokuba noticed his brother and a sign of relief appeared on his face. He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. “Seto, there is someone on the line of that gaming magazine that had placed articles about the duel disk system in the past. They want to know about that virtual game.”

With brisk steps Seto walked over to Mokuba and pulled the telephone-handset out of his brothers hands.

“Kaiba here.”

_“Mister Kaiba, I was just telling your brother we would love to place an article about that new game you want to market.”_

“We are not creating any new games at the moment,” Seto grumbled.

_“I think it’s a great idea, the youth will surely like it. What are you going to call it?”_

“We are not developing a virtual war game! Put that in your magazine.” For the second time Seto slammed the handset into the telephone and for a brief moment Mokuba wondered how much the telephone would be able to endure. He looked up at his brother, who was looking at the television screen, but the news had already gone to their next item.

“Mokuba, Melissa should be back in her office by now. Go tell her we are going to hold an official press conference concerning the release of that game. Tell her I need to know what is going on and where this rumour is coming from.”

“I’m on it!” Mokuba ran away to do as his brother had asked him.

The telephone rang and Seto picked up the handset. “What?” he snarled into it.

_“Mister Kaiba, Yugi Moto is on the line for you.”_

“Put him through.”

Seconds later he heard Yugi’s voice on the other side of the line giving out a greeting.

“Let me guess,” Kaiba said. “You have seen the news.”

_“Yes.”_

“Well, it’s not true.”

_“No, I didn’t think it was. Why are they saying that?”_

“Someone is trying to destroy my reputation.” Seto narrowed his eyes. “I need to make a phone-call.” He disconnected Yugi, not caring at all it was rude to do so, and dialled a new number.

“Roland, find out if Zigfried von Schroeder has anything to do with this.” After this brief order he put down the handset again, more gentle then anytime before that evening. A thoughtful look was in his blue eyes. It could be Zigfried, but if it wasn’t him, who was it?


	5. He won't let go

When Mokuba returned to the office his brother was still sitting at his desk. “I’ve talked with Melissa, she’ll take care of the situation,” he announced as he walked to his brothers desk.

Seto nodded to show he had heard him, but didn’t comment on it.

“I had not expected Alister to come here,” Mokuba continued with a sigh.

“No, that was unexpected. As was the news he had brought.” Seto frowned as he thought about it, but shook his head and got up from behind the desk. “We’re going home.”

Mokuba nodded and called to the driver of their limousine to drive the car to the entrance of the building.

Seto turned off his computer, grabbed his suitcase and walked through the door, with his little brother next to him. He events of that day still bothered him, but on the other side was it just a problem he would find a solution for soon enough, if his employees started proving their worth for a change. Still, he had a cautious faith in the female PR-manager, and that was rare for him. Her and Roland, those two were the only employees he dared trusting.

Roland joined them on the way down, informing Seto with an update about the situation, which basically came down that there was no real progress in solving the situation.

The three of them made their way to the entrance of the tall, glass building and through the automatic doors, but there they stopped.

Below the set of stairs the black limousine was parked, but instead of the driver it was Alister who leaned against the door. His grey eyes holding a harsh look.

“Don’t you have anything better to do then to wait outside my building till I come out?” Seto asked him, walking down the stairs. “Really Alister, if you’re going to stalk me now…”

“I’m not going to do that. You promised me proof, Kaiba.”

Seto placed his suitcase on the hood of the car and pulled a file from it, handing it to Alister.

The text contained details about a proposed idea, the game the rumours were about, including what KC weapons and tanks would be used, with a big read stamp across it. Denied. The date was that of a couple of days ago.

“This doesn’t proof a thing,” Alister simply said.

“It doesn’t? An idea needs my approval before we do anything.” Seto sent an icy glare in the direction of Alister, pulling the file from his hands. “I don’t care if you believe me or not. Take your pathetic ideas of me and go home. I’m not wasting any more time on you.”

Having said this, Seto grabbed his suitcase and pulled open the car door. Without a second look at the red-haired man Seto took his seat in the back of the limousine. Mokuba did look at Alister and opened his mouth to say something, but Alister walked away. Mokuba watched him walk away, feeling a bit sorry for him, but he too got in the car and Seto gave the short order to the driver to take him home.

Mokuba looked at his brother when the driver started the drive back home, but his brother was looking outside, with one leg over the other and his arms crossed. He didn’t seem to be in a mood to talk, so Mokuba kept silent. He let out a small sigh and turned his eyes to the window on his side, viewing the city as they were driving through it.

Seto had his eyes on the window of the care, but barely noticed the passing cars, the people walking on the side-walk or the buildings they were passing. For some reason he had to think about the duel with Alister on top of the plane a while back. Alister had blamed him, as the head of Kaiba Corporation, for the war in which he had lost his little brother. True, there had been weaponry from Kaiba Corporation that caused the death and destruction there, but that had everything to do with his step-father Gozaburo and nothing with him. Long and slender fingers covered his face as he remembered the vision Alister had caused, where he had viewed the city Alister used to live and the war which destroyed it. Seto pushed the memory back. He had nothing to do with that, but it made him realize one thing. There would be more people out there who would remember the past of Kaiba Corporation and hold a grudge, much like Alister had.


	6. The early bird gets the tank

After a dinner that was eaten mostly in silence, the two Kaiba brothers spent some time in the living room, where Mokuba was watching television and Seto reading a book. It didn’t surprise Mokuba that it was a book about holographic technologies written by some professor. His brother rarely took time to read ‘nonsense written by others’ as he often referred to novels and such. The only things he did for amusement seemed to be chess and duel monsters, two games he excelled in.

After having spent some time together like that, the brothers each went to their bedrooms to get some sleep. Mokuba wished his brother a good night before entering his bedroom. Seto walked a bit further down the hall to enter his.

His bedroom was spacious, but with little furniture, a big build-in closet took a large part of one of the walls. There was a round table with two comfortable chairs in one corner and a large double bed in the middle of the room. A door lead to a private bathroom.

Seto walked up to the bed where his pyjama pants were lying. He calmly changed his clothing, lay down in the bed and turned off the light. Though he didn’t sleep, he stared in the darkness above him, thinking about what happened that day. It didn’t keep him awake long though, after a silent promise to himself he would get the one responsible and make him pay, he soon fell asleep.

 

The next morning Seto was sitting at the breakfast table with Mokuba next to him. A cup of coffee was standing next to his plate, where a half-eaten slice of bread still lay. He turned the page of the newspaper, something he read every morning.

“There is some mention about the protest in front of our building yesterday and the comments I gave,” he informed Mokuba. “That was to be expected.”

He briefly looked up when he heard the door and could see Roland enter. When he had established it was Roland, he turned his attention back to the newspaper.

“Roland, I want to see Melissa in my office at eight.”

“Sir, doesn’t she start working at nine?” Roland asked.

The newspaper dropped a bit and an icy glare was sent to Roland.

“Yes Mister Kaiba, I’ll call her right now.”

Roland left swiftly and Mokuba started to chuckle.

“What is it?” Seto asked with a sigh, lifting the newspaper again to continue reading.

“You haven’t lost your touch yet, Seto.”

“You’d think he knows by now that if I say something, I want him to do to just that.”

He read over the financial section of the newspaper, checked what news it had about the stocks of his own company and then folded the newspaper up. He finished his breakfast and looked to see if Mokuba was ready.

Mokuba nodded, finished his glass of orange juice and followed his brother.

On their way out Roland joined them and informed Seto that Melissa would be there as requested and informed him about other thing he needed to know. Seto listened silently, only giving an occasional nod, as he walked out of the mansion and towards the limousine that was waiting for him with his briefcase in his hand.

The driver opened the door for him, so he could enter without having to wait. Mokuba joined him in the back, Roland took the passenger seat in the front of the car. The driver closed the door behind Mokuba, walked around the car and took place in the driver seat. After quickly adjust the rear-view mirror he drove away.

The drive happened in silence, both the Kaiba brothers were just looking out of their windows. They were driving through the city, where many people were going about. People doing early grocery shopping, suppliers delivering supplies to stores, workers going to their job, small groups of students in their school uniform on their way to school. Seto watched it all with very little interest. Why would he care about these people? They were just part of the background of the city as he was on his way to work. Suddenly the eyes of the young CEO narrowed. “Stop the car.”

The driver looked back, but did as he was told and pulled over.

“Wait here.” Seto got out of the car and walked back to the electronic game shop they had driven past. Mokuba quickly followed his brother, as did Roland. Mokuba was just curious to see what his brother had seen. Roland was more concerned with the safety of the CEO.

In the window of the shop was a cardboard version of a KC tank. There was no question about that, he knew the weaponry the company had produced in the time of his step-father all to well.

The blue eyes of Kaiba filled with anger and he immediately entered the store.

“Where is the owner?!” Kaiba asked as he walked in.

“Right here, what can I do for you?”

“That tank you have on display,” Seto growled. “How did you get it?”

“I-it was sent to me by Kaiba Corporation, for the new game that is being released.”

“Didn’t you watch the news yesterday? I told the media there is no new game being released.” His voice was calm, layered with ice. It was enough to make the shop owner back away a bit.

“So tell me how you got the idea this tank is promotion material for a new game?”

“B-because of the letter that came with it. I got it in the mail, a letter and that cardboard tank that I had to put together.”

“Hand over your letter, the envelop it all came in and that tank!”

“You can’t…”

The eyes of Seto narrowed. “If it was sent to you by my company for free, then I as the CEO have all the rights to take it back. So hand it over!”

The shop owner quickly nodded and hurried away to collect the letter and envelop. When he returned and handed them to Seto, he pulled them from the hands of the man and gave them to Roland without looking at them.

“Investigate.”

“Yes mister Kaiba.”

“Don’t forget the tank.”

“Yes mister Kaiba.”

Without a second look at the man, Seto turned around and left the shop. It was a good thing he would see Melissa first thing when he came into his office. A stunt like this usually came from the PR department, even though he suspected Melissa would be as surprised to see it as he was.

Back in the car Seto noticed his cell-phone went off. He grabbed it from his pocket, briefly looked at the display and accepted the call.

“Yugi, why are you calling?”

_“We received an envelop in the mail, with a letter about the new game and some pieces of cardboard with which we can make a model to be used as display in the shop.”_

“Your grandfathers game shop doesn’t sell electronic games. Why did you receive it?”

_“So…you did sent it then.”_

“No,” Seto growled in the speaker. “But I already found that model you’re talking about in an electronic game shop. I figured it was only sent to shops that will sell games like the one the rumour is about. Can you bring it over?”

There was a silence of just a couple of seconds. _“Sure, I’ll come over right now, then I’ll still be at school in time.”_

“Good.” After this, Seto disconnected the call and let the cell phone slip in his pocket again. “That was Yugi, his grandfather also received that tank.”

“Why?”

“I guess the sender looked up the addresses of game shops and failed to check if they sell electronic games or not.” He glanced at his watch and let out a small sigh. “I’ll give it till nine before Alister comes barging in my office again because he has spotted one of those tanks somewhere.”

“Yeah, most likely,” Mokuba agreed, also letting out a sigh.

Seto looked out of the car window again as they approached his building. He could see the giant statues of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, guarding the entrance of the building. They would not be able to help him this time.

“Why is it we can save the world with a card game, like with Dartz, but when it comes to my company the solution is not that simple?”

Mokuba looked at his brother, but didn’t answer. What answer was there to give? He was right, a card game wouldn’t help them this time. A tournament could help to boost the companies image, but that wouldn’t solve the problem they now had.


	7. Is there a solution?

The two Kaiba brothers entered the office to see Melissa sitting in one of the chairs. The short-haired brunette got up from her chair when she spotted them. Her hazel eyes focussed on Seto as he walked across the room to his desk. Without a word he handed her the letter he had taken from the shop they had stopped and she skimmed over the text.

“We didn’t sent this, mister Kaiba.”

“I should hope so, that’s enough reason to get fired.”

“I know.” She looked at the cardboard tank Roland had in his hands, a thoughtful expression in her eyes. “I’ll investigate it, mister Kaiba.”

Seto nodded, the efficiency of this woman was why he had made her head of the PR department. She didn’t talk endlessly about why something was a problem, but focussed on solving the problem. “Make a list of all stores that sell games and sent people to collect those models.”

“Yes sir.”

“And find out who sent them the models in the first place.”

“Of course. I’ll get right to it.” She turned around and took the model from Rolands hand as she was walking to the door. With her free hand on the door handle she looked back at Seto. “Mister Kaiba, it could help if we would come out with something new, so the press can focus on that.”

“Let me worry about that, Melissa.”

“Yes sir, excuse me now.”

Seto nodded and Melissa opened the door, where she almost bumped into a panting Yugi, who was standing on the other side. The large, white envelop with the KC logo was in his hand. He looked at Melissa and smiled apologetically at her, she looked a bit startled by his sudden appearance on the other side of the door. He then glanced around her and looked into the office.

“Kaiba, I have the envelop.”

Seto looked up and made a waving motion in the direction of Melissa. “Give it to her.”

Yugi handed the envelop to Melissa, who thanked him for it and left the office. She had a task to do and didn’t want to waste any time. Yugi watched her go and closed the door behind him.

“Kaiba, what is going on?”

“For some reason someone is adamant about bringing back the past of my company,” Seto grumbled, rubbing his face. He didn’t like it one bit, even though it seemed teenagers who hadn’t been into duel monsters were taking interest in the company because of that game. An annoyed grimace appeared on his face. He didn’t need them to keep his company running, he didn’t want his companies name be linked to war again. He wouldn’t allow that to happen.

“If I can help, I will.” Yugi sat down on the couch, next to Mokuba. As far as he was concerned, Kaiba and he had been through a lot together and going after Dartz wouldn’t have been that easy without the help of Kaiba and his company.

“Just tell the people at your school the game is nothing but rumours when they talk about it.”

“Right.” Yugi looked at the clock and let out a small sigh. “I should be going, I’ll be late otherwise. Kaiba, if I hear anything that might help, I’ll call.”

Seto nodded and watched the short teen quickly leave his office. His rival, but at least one that was on the same side. He turned his attention to the computer screen in front of him and started going through his e-mails. As always, that was the first thing he did and it always took a while before reading through all of them. That’s what you get for being a CEO of a large company.

He was still reading e-mails when the doors opened and an agitated Alister entered the office. Seto had given instructions to let him pass when he came. Seto looked up from his computer screen, followed by a glance at the clock at the wall.

“Kaiba!”

“You’re late.”

Alister stopped and stared at Seto, before blinking a few times. “What?”

“I was expecting you half an hour ago.” Seto calmly folded his hands together and let his chin rest on them. “Let me guess, you were wandering through the city when you suddenly noticed a cardboard display tank you know all to well and you came here to ask me about it.”

“Yes, what is the meaning of that?! You said…”

“I know very well what I said,” Seto said, not even giving Alister the chance to finish his sentence. “And all I can tell you is that I didn’t sent those to the shops and my PR manager is clueless as well, but she’s investigating the matter.”

Alister snorted, folding his arms in front of his chest. “You expect me to believe that? You claim that game wouldn’t be released and now these displays show up in game stores?”

“I don’t expect you to believe me. If I recall correctly, last time it took a duel and a crashing plane to finally get through that thick head of yours. And forgive me, but I’m not going to let another of my planes crash, just to try and convince you. I may be richer then you’ll ever be, I like to spent my money on something other then replacing planes.”

Alister glared at Seto, angered by the snub remark, but the angry expression faded as he remembered the battle. He glanced at Mokuba, who was looking at them with a file in his hands. Against all odds, Kaiba had managed to save his little brother, just like he had said he would do. “No need to crash a plane for me.”

“Oh? You did get some sense in your thick head then.”

Anger flared up in his eyes again. “Don’t patronise me, Kaiba. You can never understand what this situation does to me. I was in the middle of that war with KC weaponry an both sides and now I’ll be reminded of that every time I walk past a game shop!”

“I know that, Alister,” Seto calmly responded. “You and dozens other survivors, who most likely hate Kaiba Corp just as much as you do. And now I have to deal with all those angry people who lost homes and loved ones in wars due to weapons created by this company, even though we are a gaming company now. Don’t blame me for what happened, Alister, blame those that started the war. My step-father, even though I resent him and what he stood for, only delivered the weaponry. The decision to use them in war was not his.”

“That doesn’t make it right to sell it,” Alister growled.

“You don’t have to convince me, I’m the one who stopped the production of weapons and turned the company around.” Seto leaned back in his chair, his hands folded in front of his chest. “You seem to forget that part. I’ve told you a thousand times already, Kaiba Corporation is not the same company as you remember it. Try to remember that, I’m getting tired of having to repeat myself.” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “If that was all, I still have work to do.”

They looked at each other, Alister and Seto. Mokuba started to feel uncomfortable under their staring contest, even though they were looking at each other and not at him.

“Fine.” Alister turned around and left the office.

Seto let out a sigh and turned his attention back to the screen in front of him, opening his mailbox with two mouseclicks. He knew there were people like Alister out there and if there were too many of them the recent events could make them start a protest against his company. That was something he had to prevent, because they could very easily convince others why his company was evil and needed to be boycotted. With his slender finger he started rubbing his temples. This situation was far from resolved, he would have his PR department make overtime to counter anything that could harm his company before it started.

“Are you going to come with something new, like Melissa advised?” Mokuba asked from where he was sitting and Seto looked up at his younger brother.

“Yes Mokuba. And I already know what.” To come out with something new, that was something Seto was planning to do, but that would take time. All they could do for now was counter the rumours with official statements that those rumours were exactly that: just rumours. He turned his attention at the advertisement in his mailbox. Another duel tournament was going to start soon, organized by Industrial Illusions. Competing in that could help to boost the reputation of the company. If he’d win. And then there was Pegasus of course, he’d rather have nothing to do with that man. Still, people were expecting him to join the duel monsters tournament. He clicked it away and opened another screen with the basic outlines of a new product.

A knock on the door disturbed his work and he glared at the door as it opened. It was almost impossible to work on it with people constantly disturbing him. Of course he could give the orders to some of the company programmers, but this was something he wanted to do himself. It wasn’t just to show the world the things Kaiba Corporation produced these days, it was to show his enemies what he could do. And again, it wasn’t just that. It was one of the few things he enjoyed doing.

The man in a suit that cautiously walked up to his desk had a sheet of paper in his hand. Without a word Seto took it from him and read it. Results of the stock market. It seemed like their stocks were dropping a bit in value and someone was busy buying a lot of them. Grumbling, Seto put the list on his desk. Great, another thing he’d have to look into.

“Leave,” he said and the man quickly left the office.

A pop-up informed him he had an e-mail and with a sigh he opened his mailbox for a second time. He had been getting plenty of those as well. He noticed the name of the sender and he glared at the screen even before reading it. An e-mail from Zigfried von Schroeder could never be good. The man owned his own gaming company and had accused him of theft, something that angered him to no end, because the holographic duelling technology had been his own idea.

_Gutentag herr Kaiba,_

_I hope you’re not eaten alive yet, I’ve seen the protests against the release of your new game. I think it’s a great idea._

“If you like it so much you can have it,” Seto grumbled, but he continued reading.

  _Maybe we can work together on this one. A project between Schroeder Corp and KaibaCorp!_

“Like that will happen.”

  _I mean, no hard feeling for planting a virus in your database during your KC Grand Championship, right?_

“You have no idea.”

  _Speaking of which, there is a tournament coming I heard. Don’t bother competing, you’ll never defeat Yugi. You have not won one single duel against him. It will only hurt your company if you lose in the tournament._

Seto’s hand formed a fist. Siegfried did have a point there. In what duel had he been better then Yugi? Yugi had defeated him more then once. Yugi had defeated Pegasus after Pegasus had defeated him. Even when they worked together against Dartz, he ended up losing. Still, not competing would also give out the wrong message. Seto shook his head and looked at the e-mail again.

  _Auf wiedersehen, herr Kaiba. Keep me informed about this new game._

Seto re-read the e-mail. He knew Siegfried was up to something. He’d have to keep an eye on him as well, on top of everything else. He clicked the e-mail away, he would worry about that later, first he wanted to work on his new project. The second he opened his program again, he got a phone call from Roland to inform him some classified information had leaked. Seto covered his eyes with a hand. On top of everything else.

“Come to my office.”

Seto put down the phone and closed the program, he’d have to work on that later.

Seconds later the phone rang again. Pegasus this time to ask if he’d enter the tournament. He promised him to get back to that later.

_“Oh yes,”_ Pegasus said. _“You probably have other things to worry about, right Kaiba-boy? Yugi has just registered, just so you know. I can understand if you don’t want to join now, because, let’s face it, in what world can you defeat him?”_

“I’ll join,” Seto grumbled in the phone. “I will prove you and everyone I can and will defeat Yugi!” With this he slammed the phone down. He would not be called a coward, turning back from this duel would only hurt his reputation.

With a sigh he started to rub his temples. There really was too much on his head now. There were just a few hours in the day and things were getting worse. If only he could work out the plan he had. And win that damned tournament.


	8. Preparing for the tournament

After some communication between Seto Kaiba and Maximillion Pegasus about the use of Kaiba-Corps duel-disks for the Duel Monsters Tournament, the beginning was official.

Competitors would have a week to get enough points to join the actual tournament. The point system was a new idea from Pegasus, in which he used the official rankings. The top ten duelists started with thirty points, the amount needed to enter the tournament, all the others had to work their way up by winning duels. Every duel won earned a point and with every duel lost they lost a point. Every duel won against one of the top ten duelists earned two points. Every day with no duel made the duelist lose two points until they reached zero.

The first day Seto had already challenged three duelist, to ensure his lead. The clothes he was wearing were the same as in his own Battle City Tournament: black pants, a black long-sleeved shirt with a white sleeveless coat over it. He was busy with his third duel of the day. And it bored him, none of the duels were interesting. He didn’t even have to bring out his Blue Eyes in the last two. He grumbled as the third duel ended. They were no match for him, where was the thrill of the game? The pleasure when he won and showing everyone that he was the best, when had that disappeared? He glanced in the direction of Yugi. Duels with Yugi were never boring, but there hadn’t been a single duel against Yugi he had won. He could challenge him now, but what if he would lose again?

One week, there was one week until the tournament would begin. And none of the duelists here were worth his time, except for one he didn’t want to battle now. If he would lose to Yugi on top of everything else, that wouldn’t help him at all.

He turned around and returned to his building. This was all a huge waste of time. Mokuba quickly followed his big brother, he was surprised that he suddenly left like that.

“Hey brother, wait up!” Mokuba said, but his brother didn’t stop.

Mokuba managed to catch up with him and walked besides him into the building of Kaiba Corp. In silence they walked through the corridor, into the elevator. They remained silent as the elevator brought them to the top floor where Seto’s office was. The silence continued as the walked towards the office. Mokuba had frequently glanced in the direction of his brother, but the look on his face was clear, he didn’t want to be disturbed.

When they were in the office, Seto looked at his younger brother, but instead of explaining anything he walked to his desk and grabbed the briefcase that was standing there.

“Mokuba,” he finally said, “I’m going to leave for a couple of days.”

“Wait, what?” The astonished Mokuba walked closer to his brother. “What did you say?”

“I’m leaving for a couple of days,” Seto repeated his earlier remark.

“Why?”

Seto sighed and stared out the window. “Do you remember when I left right after Yugi had defeated me for the first time?”

Mokuba certainly did, not long his brother had left he had been kidnapped by Pegasus.

“I made the first portable dual disk system then,” Seto continued. “With all that is going on I don’t have the time to work on my new project. The duels don’t thrill me anymore, in fact, they bore me. I need some time away from this all to get myself back together. When I return, it will be finished.” He tapped with his fingers on the briefcase, where the unfinished prototype of his latest project was. “Building something helped me back then to get my mind straight, I need to do that again.” His voice sounded calm, rational. His blue eyes were focused on the part of the city he could see from his office.

“But Seto, what about the tournament? You’ll lose points of you don’t duel!”

“I can afford to lose some points, Mokuba. I’ll be back in time to get the points I need to enter the tournament. Trust me.” Seto turned around to look at his brother. “I will only be gone for a few days, I have prepared some actions you can take when whoever the vulture inside the company is will attempt his next move. Make sure to talk with Roland and Melissa daily and discuss how the status is and what you can do to improve it. If the press get’s annoying, promise them I’ll answer their questions when I get back. If they ask where I am, tell them I didn’t tell anyone where I have gone to.”

“Where will you go to?” Mokuba then asked.

A smile appeared on Seto’s face. “I won’t tell you. Just trust me, Mokuba. Your trust is really all I need in this matter.”

“You have that, Seto, you know that! Don’t worry, I’ll keep our company safe till you come back. Please be careful.” Mokuba looked at the ground, he didn’t want his brother to see he was close to crying. He felt he hand on his head and looked up.

“Mokuba, you know I trust you. I wouldn’t leave the company in your hands if I didn’t.”

Mokuba nodded.

“I’ll see you in a few days.”

Again Mokuba nodded. He watched his brother walk through the office, open the door and close it behind him as he walked out of the office. He let out a sigh and looked around in the office. Now it was up to him to deal with everything, but he promised himself he wouldn’t let his brother down. He would not betray his trust.


	9. As the days pass

Waves smashed against the rocks in the fading light of the day. Only one room was lit in a white house the a steep cliff by the sea, all the others windows looked like black holes in the white walls of the house. It wasn’t the first time Seto had taken refuge here and he figured it wouldn’t be the last time either.

He hadn’t been here ever since he had worked on his first duel disk system, just before he had gone to Pegasus’ island to get his brother back. The situation was different now, but somehow he felt almost the same as back then.

A computer was running and Seto glanced at the screen, before focusing on the white box in front of him and screwing one of the small screws in place. Finally this project was getting along nicely. He had no idea how the rankings of the upcoming tournament were and quite frankly, he couldn’t care less. He knew how many points he had and already had made an estimate how many duels he would have to do when he would return. There was no doubt in his mind he could pull it off in time.

 Meanwhile in Domino city the qualification rounds were still in progress. The disappearance of Seto Kaiba had caught everyone’s attention and everyone was speculating about it.

Some called him a coward, running off because he was afraid he’d lose. Others thought he was preparing a secret strategy that would make him undefeatable. Some just shrugged and said he only wanted a vacation. Another group thought he was kidnapped by someone and that KaibaCorp was keeping it a secret for them. The reason why he would be kidnapped varied a lot at well. It could be for money, for his Blue Eyes or to keep him from entering the tournament. Maybe it was Yugi who hid him in the basement in fear of losing his number one position.

“Hey Yuug, you know what happened to Rich Boy?” Joey asked, stretching his arms as he asked the question. He was sitting on a bench with Yugi, both with a duel disk on their arm. They both had enough points to enter the tournament and the both had done their mandatory duel of the day already.

“I don’t know, Joey. No-one seems to know,” Yugi said and he let out a sigh. He couldn’t help it, he was a bit worried for Kaiba. Without any word he had just vanished. Yugi knew one thing for sure, Kaiba wasn’t in his basement. And all Mokuba said about the matter was  that his brother was away. That was what he had said to the reporters when they asked, that was what he had said when Yugi asked, but he had added that his brother hadn’t told him where he went. When Yugi asked if Mokuba knew why his brother had left, Mokuba had nodded, but said he wouldn’t tell. He would let his brother reveal that when he returned.

“I think he just got scared,” Joey said with a grin. “After all, he was only looking at another defeat by your hands.”

“Perhaps,” Yugi said reluctantly. He wasn’t all that convinced that was the reason, or at least not the entire reason. He looked up to see a familiar face, even though he had to think hard to remember his name. Alister, one of the henchman of Dartz. The one Kaiba had defeated. He knew Alister and Kaiba had been in contact after that, Mokuba had told him. Mokuba had also told him what they knew about Alister. Yugi had thought it was a tragic story and with all the recent events concerning Kaiba Corp it was no surprise to see Alister here. It was a long shot, but maybe...

Yugi got up from the bench. “Hello Alister,” he said as he walked up to him.

Alister turned and watched Yugi coming closer. “Yes?”

“Do you know where Kaiba is?”

“How should I know?” Alister grumbled.

“Well, you did go see him a few times, I thought maybe he had told you something.”

Alister looked at Yugi silently and then shook his head. “No, I don’t know where he ran off to.”

“Do you know why?”

“Maybe hiding because an angry mob is on it’s way due to the blood his precious company is build on?” Alister sneered, his hand forming a fist as he spoke.

“I don’t think that’s the reason,” Yugi said, looking at Alister’s fist. “Kaiba wouldn’t hide for that, he’d face them.”

Alister shrugged and started to walk away. “Whatever. Truth is, I don’t know where he is, just like you. So don’t bother me about it.”

Yugi watched Alister leave, that conversation hadn’t answered the question. And if Kaiba wouldn’t come back soon, he wouldn’t be able to compete in the tournament. Tomorrow would be the last they to get enough points to enter. And with the days he hadn’t dueled he had already dropped to 29 points, where he needed 30 to be able to enter the tournament.

The question to where Seto Kaiba was remained a hot item as everyone could see his name go slowly down the chart, to the point where it was today. Speculations as to where he was were growing and they would only stop when the CEO of Kaiba Corporation would return.

 Mokuba sat in the office of his brother, watching the city beneath him through one of the large windows. There was still no word from his brother, he hoped Seto would be alright. Time was running short for the tournament. Melissa had asked him if he knew where his brother was and he had to tell her he didn’t. He really didn’t, Seto hadn’t told him where he would be and he wasn’t answering any calls. Not that Mokuba had expected him to actually answer, but that hadn’t stopped him from trying.

_Please be safe, Seto. And hurry back, I can’t do this by myself_

***

The final day of the qualifying rounds arrived, the last day before the tournament would start and the last day people could earn points.

It was still early in the morning when Mokuba looked at one of the big screens in the city. Every day they updated ranking of the competing duelists in the new tournament. He noticed Seto had dropped below thirty points and this would be the last day the duelists could try and earn enough points to enter the tournament. “Come on, Seto,” he muttered to himself. “Where are you? You can’t give up this tournament.” There was absolutely nothing he could do about it, besides hoping everything would be alright. When Mokuba heard his name he looked up and he noticed Yugi and his friends running towards him. “Yugi,” Mokuba greeted the short teen and he did his best to sound enthusiastic. “Are you ready for the tournament.”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Yugi said with a friendly smile. “Any news about your brother?”

“None,” Mokuba sighed and he glanced at the screen. “It doesn’t look good.”

Joey stood aside, looking a bit bored. “If you ask me he’s just scared and hiding. No big deal.”

“He’s not scared and hiding!” Mokuba shouted at Joey, who seemed surprised by the sudden outburst. “He’ll be back, you’ll see! And he’ll defeat you in the tournament!”

“Yeah, well, I’ll have to see it before I believe it. That scardy-cat is just hiding under some kind of rock if you ask me.”

A calm voice coming from the side made the group look up. “Good thing we’re not asking you then.”

Joey made a step back, but Mokuba started smiling and Yugi looked relieved. With the briefcase in his hand and his purple coat hanging loosely around his dark shirt, Seto Kaiba was standing near the group. His blue eyes moved from the group to the rankings and he took a moment to observe them. “You’re qualified to enter, Wheeler? That’s a surprise.”

“Why you...” Joey began, but he was cut short by Yugi, who decided it was best to come in between now, instead of waiting for them to start arguing.

“You had us worried, what took you so long to return?”

Seto’s eyes moved from Joey to Yugi and he tapped the suitcase in his left hand. “I had to finish this. First things first though, I need a couple of duels to be able to participate. I’ll see you dweeps later.”

With this he walked away, Mokuba quickly following his brother. Even though they had just been called ‘dweeps’ Yugi had a faint smile on his face, accepting some things would just never change. Just like Joey would never change, as he had a fist in the air and shouted after Kaiba.

“Dweeps? Come here and I’ll make you sorry for returning. I will show you who the dweep is, Kaiba!”

Even though Seto could hear perfectly what Joey was shouting, it was hard to miss that after all, he didn’t respond. It amused him to hear those idle threats coming from him. “I will enjoy defeating you once more, Wheeler,” he muttered, “but that will have to wait for the tournament.”

Mokuba walked next to Seto and he looked at the briefcase. “So, you did it? You completed the prototype.”

“Yes and initial tests shows it works fine. I will have to do some more tests, but that will be for after the tournament. Right now I have some duels to do.”

And so Seto walked around in the city to look for two victims he could duel into submission. The fact that Seto Kaiba had returned soon spread through the city. There were plenty of whispers in the street from one duelist to another. ‘have you heard? Seto Kaiba is back’ ‘he still has a chance to join the tournament’ ‘no-one knows where he has been, but he’s back now’ ‘Ha, he can try and challenge me, I’ll make him lose even more points’ ‘I wonder if he’ll be able to get enough points’

When the news of Seto’s return reached Roland, he let out a sigh of relief.

When the news of Seto’s return reached Alister, the expression on his face didn’t change, but he turned his head towards a screen showing the scores and mumbled to himself: “Time to see what you’re up to, Kaiba.”

When the news of Seto’s return reached Pegasus, he showed a pleased smile. “Welcome back, Kaiba-boy," he said as he raised a glass of wine. "Let’s see what you’re made off.”


	10. The Tournament

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though the duels is what the anime is all about, I’m not in the mood to describe how they go in detail. I might highlight some good moves, but this chapter will be more like a summary of the tournament than a detailed description of the various duel monster battles that take place. Also, there’ll be a few cards of which I’m fairly sure they don’t exist in the game/manga/anime. This chapter will be short, as I will go over the tournament quickly so I can get to the final duel of the tournament. I will also use this chapter to introduce an original character, who will play a role in the story later on. The character might be familiar to those who have read some my Pokémon fanfictions as well. The duel with the original character is summarized, but it gives a glimpse of the deck he uses.

The day of the tournament had arrived and many fans of the game had gathered to watch the several contestants compete. The tournament was being held in a large room, where several duelling arena’s were. In the finals the duelists didn’t use the DuelDisk system of KaibaCorp, but Pegasus had decided to use the arena’s, like he had in his Duelist Kingdom Tournament.

For those that didn’t get a place inside the building there were big screens outside the building, so people could watch it from there as well, just as a live broadcast.

If anything, Pegasus liked to make a big spectacle around it.

As the tournament progressed, less and less duelists remained. Not only Yugi, Joey and Kaiba were in the tournament, Rebecca had earned a place in the tournament as well, just as Mai had.

It was Seto who ended up against Rebecca at one point and he couldn’t stand her, calling her a little know-it-all. She reminded him she had been able to hack into his system during the problems with Dartz and Seto told her she wouldn’t succeed a second time. She may be good at that, he was better. Just as he was better at duelling. A statement he proved, because he wiped her lifepoints away with two of his Blue Eyes White Dragon on the field.

Alister was still in town and he watched the duels of Seto. It had surprised him that Kaiba had returned, Alister had thought, like others, that Kaiba had fled for the upcoming Tournament. Alister couldn’t help but wonder what Kaiba had been up to during his absence. A questions reporters had asked the CEO himself, but Kaiba hadn’t given any answer. All he said he was back now and had to focus on the tournament, and with that he ended the conversation.

Mai was put out of play by Yugi and Joey found himself against Seto. Even though Joey managed to bring Seto’s life points below 1000, he was no match for him and Seto finished the duel with the help of his La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp. Once he summoned him to the field, Seto played a magic card, which allowed La Jinn to take over one of the opponents monster. Seto chose Joey’s Jinzo, thus defeating Joey with his own monster.

 

The most difficult duel during the tournament came out of nowhere: a man in his early thirties with long, blond hair, casually tied together in a ponytail. This man called himself Andy and proclaimed to be the most amazing duelist ever.

“We’ll see,” Seto said with a disdainful sound in his voice.

“You should be honoured that you have the privilege to duel against me!” Andy responded with a wide grin from the other side of the arena.

This duel was being watched by Yugi and Joey and Joey leaned towards Yugi. “Oh boy, that Andy-guy seems to be even more full of himself then Rich-Boy over there.”

Yugi nodded, but he didn’t agree completely with Joey. “That’s true, but it’s different. Kaiba means it when he says he is the best. Andy over there probably knows he’s good and exaggerates. You can see his smile, I think he likes talking like that.”

“You think?” Joey said and he looked at Andy. “Hm, I don’t know, Yuug. Could be.”

It soon became clear that Andy had a deck based on warriors. And based on loyalty. He had not one, but three Blindly Loyal Goblin and because of their special effect, Kaiba couldn’t use the magic card he had used against Joey. With a simple equip magic card, Andy destroyed the La Jinn that had cost Joey’s duel. Andy also had a Gearfried the Iron Knight, Gearfried the Swordmaster and a Total Defense Shogun, to name a few, as well as some female warriors of which he always said: ‘isn’t she cute?’ when he summoned them to the field. One of his prized duelmonsters was a female warrior called Lewella, the warrior queen. This 8-star duelmonster, with 2600 attack points and 2300 defense points, could only be summoned by sacrificing a blindly loyal goblin with a special magic card. Her effect was that warrior monsters got a boost of 200 attack points and magic cards couldn’t target them.  

In the end Andy lost to Seto, but Seto had to admit the older male had been a challenge and so far only Yugi had really been one. He had to bring forth his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon for it, which was rare.

After their duel Andy talked briefly with Yugi and Joey. At the end he wished Yugi good luck in the remaining tournament and went away to get himself a hotdog, as he was in the mood for one.

 

The tournament continued until there were only two left: Seto and Yugi.

Seto watched the score-board and stared at the name next to his own. _‘So Yugi, it seems we will once again duel against each other’_ , he thought to himself. _‘This time I will win.’_

Pegasus announced that the final duel would be held in two days. The Grand Finale of his tournament would be held in a superb arena, according to Pegasus’ own words, but not just yet. He wanted to give the finalists some time to prepare.

From where he was standing, Yugi looked in the direction of Kaiba, who only briefly glanced in his direction, before turning around and walking away.


	11. A duel outside the tournament

It was the first day after the tournament and Seto Kaiba was sitting in his office, at his desk, though not in front of a computer screen. He had placed it to the side and in front of him was the newest duelling system. The very item he had completed when others had been preparing for the tournament. The device was actually made out of two separate devices that were linked together, to create a playing field with two card zone’s attached to either side, much like the duelling arena, but much smaller. The field itself was not bigger as a chess board when linked together. A five by five grid between the two card zone’s, the area where all the cards could be placed, allowed the users to play the game at home, but with holographic images rather then just the cards. The duel monsters themselves, who appeared on the five by five grid in the middle, were not larger then chess pieces, but extremely detailed. The Home Duelling System was Seto’s newest invention and he hoped it would focus the attention from that rumoured game to the technology KaibaCorp actually made.

Seto glanced over the playing field to the other side of the desk, where Yugi sat. A bit further away were Mokuba and Melissa, who were observing the demonstration. The duel was in progress and so everything seemed to work like it should.

When the device had been completed, Seto had thought real hard as to who he could ask to properly test the first duel on the system. In the end he had settled for Yugi, who was not just good at duel monsters, but was interested in games in general. If anyone could appreciate it, he figured it would be Yugi. And why not have a challenging duel to test the system?

Maybe Yugi was his rival, a rival ever since the first time Yugi had defeated him, but Seto acknowledged Yugi as a good duellist, just as Yugi acknowledged him as a good duellist. And with everything that had happened, Dartz, ancient Egypt, Seto had noticed it was not as easy to see Yugi just as a rival anymore. Seto had thought a lot about that when he had taken some time off to finish this duelling system, just as he had thought a lot about his first defeat and the heart of the cards back when he had worked on his first portable duelling system, back in the day Pegasus the enemy. During his recent stay at the white mansion on top of the sea cliff, Seto had come to the conclusion that Yugi, even though his biggest rival, was a respectable duellist and one that could be trusted. Though he would never admit Yugi was better them him, he knew he would be able to defeat him and prove that one day.

“As you see, it works just like all the other duelling systems. You place your cards and you see the effect in holographic images on the board.”

“I think it’s fantastic,” Yugi said. “It’s just like playing on those paper fields, but, well, with images.”

Seto made an agreeing sound and placed one card face down on the magic and trap card zone. As he did, a white square on the field lit up as well. “Your turn.”

Yugi drew a card from his deck and placed it in his hand. “You know what I like about this?”

“What?”

“This is a way to play duel monsters in a calm way. It’s just like playing chess or another board game, you don’t have to shout at one another across a large field and have large holograms in between you and your opponent.” Yugi looked up at Seto. “Don’t get me wrong, I like playing this game with your Duel Disk and I enjoy a trip to the Duelling Arena’s in your gaming hall, but this is nice as well. Oh, and I’m playing this one face down,” he added as he placed a monstercard facedown. “And attack your Battle Ox with my Cursed Dragon.”

Seto watched the small Cursed Dragon launch it’s attack on the playing field and destroy his Battle Ox. “That was my aim. After taking the game and make it bigger, I thought it would be nice to make something that would fit in the living room and can be played inside on a rainy day.”

Mokuba watched the game as well and then looked at his brother. He had been surprised when his brother suddenly invited Yugi over to test his new invention, but he enjoyed watching the duel. The head of the PR department, standing next to him, seemed to agree with the new Duelling System, he could tell by the smile on her face.

“I will create a computer that can be linked to it,” Seto then said, “so that you don’t have to be with two to play the game. I’m also exploring the possibility for double duels with this device, but that’s for when this Home Duelling System is received well enough. Of course every addition will have to be purchased separately.”

“Those sound like great plans,” Yugi said.

The duel continued, until Seto had 100 lifepoints left and Yugi 500. Yugi had his Dark Magician on the field and Seto had his Judgeman on the field. It had been a tough duel so far and Seto looked at his deck. He only needed one card to win this. Just one. What were the odds he’d draw it? On the other hand, he had managed to pull that off a couple of times. Drawing exactly what he needed. It had worked against Alister. Back then, on the crashing plane, there was also just one card that could save him and he had managed to draw it. _‘Come on, I can’t lose my first duel on my new Duelling System. I can’t, I have to draw it!’_ Seto reached out for his deck and took the top card from it. He watched it silently.

“It isn’t the card you hoped for?” Yugi asked.

“It’s exactly the card I had hoped for and it will be your downfall, Yugi. If you can’t stop this, you’ll lose.”

They looked each other straight in the eyes and Yugi nodded once. Then Kaiba placed the card he had just drawn on the field in face-up attack position: Lord of D.

Yugi looked at the card and then at his face-down card.

Seto smirked as the took another card from his hand. “Care to venture a guess, Yugi?”

Yugi showed a smile as he looked up. “No, I think we both know what that card is.”

“I play my Flute of Summoning Dragons.”

Yugi nodded, he had expected it to be that card, just as he knew his face-down card would not help him. He watched the small Lord of Dragons on the field get a small Flute of Summoning Dragons. The details were really amazing, Yugi was impressed.

“And I use it to summon my Blue Eyes White Dragon,” Seto continued and next a small Blue Eyes White Dragon appeared on the field, spreading his wings in a menacing way. “And I will use my Blue Eyes White Dragon to destroy your Dark Magician,” Seto concluded and they both watched the Blue Eyes unleash it’s Burst Stream of Destruction attack on the Dark Magician.

“Wow,” Yugi said. “Good duel, Kaiba. And your new Duelling System works great!” He reached out his hand over the board to Seto.

Seto looked at the extended hand for a moment, before he too reached out to shake his opponent’s hand. A part of him couldn’t believe what just had happened, had he actually defeated Yugi in a duel for once? Another part of him was shouting ‘Ha, I knew I could defeat him!’. A third part of him was just proud of his new Duelling System.

“Too bad this wasn’t the final battle of the tournament,” Seto said and Yugi had to laugh at that.

“I look forward to that, Kaiba,” Yugi said, still smiling. “It’s going to be some duel, I know it will.”

Mokuba came standing next to his brother, all excited about the demonstration. “That was a great duel, brother! And this new Duelling System rocks! This will surely make them forget the rumours about that war-game.”

“Let’s hope so,” Seto said with a sigh. “I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about it. I’m very close to take the file, mail it to Zigfried myself and let him come out with that stupid game. Without the KC weaponry of course, I would sue him for everything he owns if he would dare to do that.”

Now Melissa came closer as well. “Mister Kaiba, when do you wish to announce this Home Duelling System?”

Seto glanced aside to the head of his PR department. “After the tournament. Maybe two or three days after. Are you pleased with the new item?”

“Yes sir, very much. It will surely draw the attention away from the rumours. It’s something new and yet the same and it had KaibaCorp written all over it. I think this is a great idea of you, sir, and I will make arrangements for a press conference and demonstration immediately.”

Seto nodded and looked at Yugi once again. “I expect of you to stay silent until the official announcement of Kaiba Corporation.”

Yugi quickly nodded. “Don’t worry, Kaiba. My lips are sealed.” After this, the small teen got up from his chair. “I’ll be heading home. I’ll see you tomorrow, Kaiba. I’m looking forward to our duel!”

“So am I,” Seto said and as he spoke those words, he realized he meant it. He really was looking forward to this duel.


	12. The final duel of the Tournament

The day for the deciding duel of Pegasus’ tournament had come and everyone was excited about it. A duel between Yugi Moto and Seto Kaiba was something anyone interested in duel monsters wanted to see. The two top duellists against each other, this would certainly be a great duel.

Then Pegasus announced it would not be just one duel, they would have three. This was to rule out luck, he explained in his flamboyant way. If one of the two would win two battles in a row, it was certain he was the best. If they would each win one duel, there would be an exciting final duel to see who could claim to be the best duellist of the world. He had already announced that the first two duels would be held in the morning and if a third one was needed, that would be held in the evening, to make things even more spectacular, with fireworks at the end for whoever would win the tournament.

Amongst the crowd in the that came to watch this duel were of course Seto’s brother and Yugi’s friends and grandfather. Duke and Tristan were each sitting next to Serenity and occasionally glaring at each other. Joey hardly noticed that with Mai sitting next to him and the prospect of his best friend in the final duel of the tournament. Yugi’s grandfather was of course rooting for his grandson, but he felt the duels would be interesting to watch. Next to him was professor Hawkins and his granddaughter Rebecca.

Elsewhere in the crowd was Alister, who was curious to see this duel that already was being referred to as the duel of the century. Obviously those people hadn’t seen the duel on top of the plane, for that had truly been quite a duel. Alister still thought about it with mixed feelings, Kaiba had pulled it off back then, he had done what he had promised: he had won the duel and he had saved his little brother. In a way Alister had respect for Kaiba, for his duelling talent and the care for his little brother, but that didn’t mix with his feelings of hatred for Kaiba Corporation. And that made everything so difficult.

Yet on another place in the crowd was the same duellist that had been defeated by Kaiba during the tournament: Andy. He had come to see this duel out of curiosity, he had heard much about both Seto Kaiba and Yugi Moto, but he hadn’t exactly seen them battle yet, except for that duel against Seto Kaiba himself.

It became silent when Yugi and Seto took place in the duelling arena and placed their decks on the right place. Just as both of them expected, these duels were far better then most duels they had done during the tournament. Yugi couldn’t help but wonder if Kaiba had found the heart of the cards. Yugi could tell Kaiba still wanted to win at all cost, but he seemed to have lost some of his anger.

The first duel was won by Yugi, he had both his Black Luster Soldier and his Dark Magician on the field. He used the Black Luster Soldier against the Blue Eyes White Dragon of Kaiba and with both at 3000 atk points, they both ended up in the graveyard, but Yugi had his Dark Magician left to finish the duel.

The second duel was won by Seto, he managed to get his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon on the field, which was the downfall of Yugi.

With the score 1-1, the decisive duel would be held that evening. From across the field, Seto and Yugi looked at each other, before turning around and leaving the arena.

 

That afternoon was Seto sitting in his office, working on some programming to allow double duels in his Home Duelling System when the phone rang. He picked it up without looking at it.

“Kaiba.”

_“Hey Kaiba, it’s Yugi.”_

“Yugi. What do you want?”

_“I-uhm, I was just wondering...are you looking forward to our last duel this evening?”_

Seto fell silent for a moment and looked at the telephone, as if he could see Yugi through it. “Truthfully, not particularly.”

_“Yeah...me neither. I feel this can go any way, just like any duel we’ll ever have. I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel right to have one of us named champion, when the other could very well be the better in the next duel we have.”_

“Scared you’ll lose, Yugi?”

_“No, I wouldn’t mind, but do you get what I’m trying to say?”_

Seto let out a sigh. “I do, unfortunately.” There was a silence that lasted a few seconds, a pause in which Seto thought about it. “Yugi, why don’t you come to my office, we still have two hours before we have our final duel. We’ll discuss it here.”

 

After the telephone call, Seto sent Mokuba away to discuss a few things with Pegasus. Of course Mokuba was reluctant, he didn’t like Pegasus ever since Pegasus had kidnapped him, stole his soul and used him against his brother. Even though he was reluctant, he promised Seto he’d do it and left. Seto promised Mokuba he’d see him that evening, but he had something he really wanted to complete. Around fifteen minutes later Yugi entered and they started talking.

It was around one hour before the duel would start that Kaiba and Yugi set down with a chess board between them and started to place all the pieces on the board. Seto turned on the television where the live broadcast would be.

As the minutes passed, Seto and Yugi were playing their game of chess.

Ten minutes before the start of the duel, Seto received a call from Mokuba, asking him where he was.

“Don’t worry, Mokuba. I’ll be there,” Seto promised, before disconnecting.

Moments later Yugi’s cell phone rang, it was Tea with the same question for Yugi as Mokuba had asked his brother.

“Tea, don’t worry. I’ll be in time...yes, I’m on my way.” Yugi smiled as he put his cell phone away again and he glanced at the television screen. “I wonder how they’ll respond if neither of us shows up in time.”

“This will be one duel people will still be talking about in a few years,” Seto said as he moved his horse on the board. “Check.”

And it was one duel Seto was starting to look forward to, this would be a challenging duel. Much like the duel against Dartz had been, but with a lot less at stake.

Yugi removed Seto’s horse with a bishop and looked up when Seto received another phone call, from Roland this time.

“Calm down, Roland,” Seto said curtly. “I’m on my way, I’ll be in time.” He sighed after he disconnected and looked at Yugi. “Maybe we should go.”

“Yeah, the people will want their duel,” Yugi agreed with a happy smile on his face.

Together they left the office and the building, to take place in one of Seto’s limousine’s. Seto had been adamant in using that, he wanted to travel to the last duel in style.

 

By now it was time for the duel to begin and everyone was waiting in anticipation for the two finalists of the tournament. Pegasus was sitting in his chair with an displeased look on his face, telling his underlings that Yugi-boy and Kaiba-boy seriously lacked manners for being late on _his_ tournament. Mokuba was worried, as were Yugi’s friends and grandfather. It was nothing like them to be late.

Pegasus came up from his chair. “The duel had to start now, but none of the finalists are here. If they do not show up within ten minutes, it will be considered as forfeiting the duel. If one of them will arrive within ten minutes and the other won’t, the victory will go to the showing up.”

After his he sat down again and both Mokuba and Tea grabbed their phones to call Seto and Yugi.

Both received their calls and both reassured them that they were close and would be in the arena well before the ten minutes were over.

And sure enough, with two minutes to spare they entered the building. There was a loud applause and cheering for them, but they looked at Pegasus.

Seto waited for the people to calm down, before he smirked and started talking.

“Pegasus, Yugi and I have been talking and we have decided we don’t want to play the final duel against each other. We have both won a duel already and yet another duel between the same duellists will be boring. More importantly, _I_ am bored with it. We have a counter proposal. A double duel, with me and Yugi on one side and the current champions of the double duel tournament that was being held five months ago on the other side. If it will make you feel any better the winner of the double duel can flip a coin to see who is the champion, but after discussing it, Yugi and I have decided a duel between us is the same as flipping a coin, either of us can win, depending on how the cards will fall. We have decided a double duel would be more thrilling for us.”

Pegasus had calmly listened to Seto and when he was done he opened his arms. “Bravo, Kaiba-boy. This is some surprise and a thrilling idea. And you have a fine way of bringing it. It’s an interesting proposal, I know you’ll realize you can both lose your chance at winning this tournament and that is what makes it so thrilling. Here is my counter-counter proposal. You will do your double duel, but the one with the most life-points at the end of the duel will be the champion. I’m sure this will make it even more interesting, you’ll have to work together to defeat the other team, but at the same time make sure you won’t lose to your partner.”

Yugi and Seto just briefly looked at each other and nodded. “Agreed, Pegasus!”

The people waiting for the final duel of the tournament were amazed by the sudden change that the finalists had made, but now they cheered for it. Alister had looked surprised in Seto’s direction, he had not seen that coming. Andy was watching with a thoughtful look on his face, but soon he showed a smile and muttered ‘interesting’.

 

So, the double duel began. It was definitely not the first time Yugi and Seto had duelled together. The first time was against the Five-Headed dragon inside Seto’s first virtual reality game. The second time against Lumis and Umbra in Seto’s Battle City Tournament. The third time against Dartz. But this was the first time they would go against double-duel champions, two duellist who were used to work together. Though they had prepared for it and they had added a few cards to their decks meant for double-duels.

Near the end Seto and Yugi brought forward a strong monster that ensured their victory. Not the Dragon Master Knight this time, the fusion between Black Luster Soldier and the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon they had used to defeat the Five-Headed Dragon. When Yugi had his Dark Magician on the field and Seto his Blue Eyes White Dragon, Yugi played a magic card called ‘United Force’, the card had two halves of a stone tablet painted on it, with the tablets showing two halves of the Polymerization symbol. In play it only showed half the tablet, but the card allowed Seto to take his United Force card from his deck as well and put it in play, to make the other half appear. At the cost of 1500 life points each, they merged the tablet together and with it fused their Dark Magician and Blue Eyes White Dragon together to form the White Dragon Mage, a mage that looked like the Dark Magician, but with big white, dragon-like wings. The White Dragon mage had long, white hair and blue eyes. The staff he held was white, with a blue stone in it. The White Dragon Mage could be controlled by either player during their turn and had an attack and defence of 4000.

This ensured their victory, but it was Seto who played a final card to boost his own lifepoints above those of Yugi with a differende of 100. And with that, Seto became the winner of the Tournament. Of course Joey complained that Seto had such a low trick up his sleeve, but Yugi didn’t mind. They had won together, as a team, with a fantastic creature. Now they had two strong creatures they could form if they would play together, rather then against each other. When things like this happened, it always reminded him of their past in ancient Egypt, even though he knew Kaiba wouldn’t want to hear anything about that.

Pegasus complimented Seto with his strategic move to ensure his victory in this double-duel final and Seto took the compliment with a smirk, he was pleased with how the duel had gone and it had been an interesting one. And for once he had proven the world that he, Seto Kaiba, was truly a champion in this game.


	13. The dream

Now Seto’s name was in the news again, but in a positive way rather than a negative one for a change, because he was the latest tournament’s champion. Well, alongside Yugi of course, but he ignored that part. He chose this moment to hold a press conference in which he announced and demonstrated his new duelling system. The press was all over it and the product was, like all the previous duelling systems, well received by the fans of the card game.

Melissa had made sure to instruct the press not to bring up any of the rumours about the virtual game during the presentation of the new duelling system and they complied. This new product was good enough news by itself after all.

Now that the new duelling system was out and the reputation of the company had got the much needed boost, Seto felt he could finally relax a bit and focus properly on the things he needed to focus on. It annoyed him he still didn’t know who spread the rumours of the game or the cardboard display tanks, but he was confident they would figure that out soon.

 

~

 

That evening, after he returned to the mansion where he and Mokuba lived, he lay in his king-size bed. He read an article in a science magazine about holographic interfaces, but it was nothing he didn’t know yet, so he put it aside. He settled in the bed for what he hoped would be a peaceful night.

Not long after he fell asleep he found himself on top Kaiba Corporation. He wasn’t sure how he got there, but here he was. The wind moved through his hair and pulled on the purple coat he often wore. He noticed his Blue Eyes White Dragon fly through the sky and he watched her. Her? He frowned when he thought about it, this was the first time he had appointed a gender to the dragon. He dismissed it, it didn’t matter after all. He looked at the sky once more, but he couldn’t see his dragon anymore. Suddenly he heard a woman’s voice speak to him.

“Seto.”

He turned around and his jaw dropped when he recognized the girl with long, white hair and clear blue eyes. He had seen her in visions and dreams before, he had seen her with that priest that looked so much like him. And the moment he recognized her he felt a warm feeling inside. “Kisara,” he whispered.

“You need the help of Alister.”

“Nonsense.”

Kisara came closer. “You know you need his help. Call him.”

“I don’t need his help.”

“You will.” She smiled at him. “Please be safe, Seto, I can only guard over your heart,” she whispered and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Seto jolted up in the bed, he looked ahead in the darkness, panting slightly and he touched his cheek with his fingers at exactly the place Kisara had kissed him. “A dream,” he muttered. “It was only a dream.” It had felt quite real and it brought up all the memories he had of her. All the visions and dreams. He got up from the bed and walked to his desk. He opened a drawer and took his beloved duel monsters deck from it. He picked up the first card and looked at it. The Blue Eyes White Dragon. The best card in his entire deck, one that had won many duels for him. He knew what had happened in ancient Egypt, he had witnessed it all. That girl and the Blue Eyes were connected. They were connected. As soon as that thought entered his mind, he shook his head. That nonsense from ancient Egypt had been just a dream or a hallucination or whatever, just like the dream he just woke up from. He put the cards back in the drawer, closed it and returned to bed, unwilling to admit to himself what Kisara meant to him and how she was tied to his favourite duel monster card. Him needing Alister’s help? Nonsense. He wouldn’t call him just because a girl entered his dream and told him to. He soon fell asleep again and he was undisturbed by any more dreams.


	14. Alister

Seto spend the next day at the office as usual, he took care of his e-mails, had meetings, checked the progress on various projects, checked important data that departments brought to him and didn’t think about the nonsense he had dreamt last night. He had the news channel on, although he had put it on mute for now, they showed some images from a conflict somewhere on the world. It was nothing new, armed conflicts, war, as long as there were humans with weapons there would be people fighting. And some of those conflicts got large enough to reach the news. Seto couldn’t be bothered by it, he had distanced himself from war, all he cared about now was staying ahead of his competitors as a gaming industry. He was busy with checking some statistics when the phone rang and he picked it up without looking at the display.

“Kaiba,” he said with his eyes glued on the screen of his computer.

_“Sir, I have a call for you from doctor Bansing.”_

“I don’t know a doctor Bansing.”

_“He said it’s important.”_

“Fine. Put him through.” He waited for the click that indicated the line had switched. “Doctor Bansing, how can I help you?”

_“We’ve got a patient here on the emergency department, he asked for you.”_

“And who is this patient?”

_“He didn’t carry an I.D. but between a lot of incoherent muttering he kept saying your name. So maybe you could come over and have look.”_

Seto quickly thought about all the people he knew, but as far as he knew they all carried an I.D.-card. “What does your mystery patient look like?”

_“Male, late teens, grey eyes, hair is short and red… does that ring any bells?”_

Seto didn’t answer, he looked straight ahead. That sounded a lot like… “Alister,” he muttered.

_“What did you say?”_

“I’ll come over,” Seto put the phone down and got up from the chair. “Mokuba, take care of the things here, I’m going to the hospital,” he said as he walked over to the door. “They need me to identity a patient.”

“What did he look like?” Mokuba asked, having only heard the questions his brother had asked.

Seto looked back at Mokuba with his hand on the handle of the door. “It’s probably Alister.”

Mokuba’s jaw dropped and he watched how his brother left the office. It wasn’t like him to rush over to a hospital for someone who could be Alister. He didn’t even like Alister, right? Confused, Mokuba sat down behind the desk. He knew what to do, it wasn’t the first time his brother trusted him to take care of the company for a bit, but he couldn’t focus on the numbers and graphs displayed on the screen. His eyes turned to the news, they had moved on to the next news-item about a new law for pet-owners. It wasn’t relevant to them at all, so Mokuba opened a different program to do some administrative work he knew his brother hated.

 

~

 

The black limousine parked near the entrance of the emergency department. Seto instructed the driver to wait there as he exited the car. He looked at the entrance for a moment before he started walking with confident steps and he entered the hospital.

Inside the emergency department Seto walked straight to the desk and looked at the nurse behind it. “Doctor Bansing,” he said before she could ask why he was there.

“The doctor is with a patient,” she replied, “you can-”

No,” Seto interrupted her. “You can call the doctor and let him know Seto Kaiba is here to see him now and that my time is valuable.”

“I will page him,” the nurse sighed and she did just that.

Seto grumbled in annoyance, but he couldn’t do anything but wait. He settled with his back against the wall and he crossed his arms. With his eyes locked on the main corridor of the emergency department he waited for the doctor to emerge from one of the rooms.

Luckily he didn’t have to wait long, but when the doctor in the characteristic white coat walked over to him he had to blink twice. He knew this man, the blond hair, the ponytail, this was one of his opponents in the tournament, one he had actually had to bring out his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon for. Andy Bansing, he hadn’t linked the name dr. Bansing to this man until he saw him.

“So this is what you do for a living,” Seto stated.

“As you can see,” Andy replied cheerfully. “And we both know what you do for a living.” He put a hand on Seto’s shoulder and gestured to one of the rooms. “This way. I’ve got to say that what you do for a living is much of an improvement from your father.”

“Stepfather,” Seto corrected him with a harsh tone in his voice. He could have known not a day would pass without him getting reminded of that.

“Ah. That’s why you don’t resemble him much then.”

Seto looked surprised at the doctors face, that wasn’t what he had expected to hear. More often than not he had to defend himself. “Did you know him?  Seto found himself asked.

“Gozaburo? I’ve met him a few times on those boring social gatherings rich people tend to go to.” A serious frown appeared on Andy’s face. “I’ve seen what his weapons caused, as a doctor I’ve been to areas of conflict and…” He smiled a bit as he looked back at Seto. “I’m glad you took a different approach for the company. And your new home-dulling system? I’m going to buy one. Good idea.” He gave the rich teen a pat on the shoulder and opened the door. “There’s our patient.”

Seto, confused by the pat on his shoulder as he couldn’t recall ever getting one from someone, looked inside the room. It was Alister, he lay on the bed with tubes going into his nose and arms and wires going from his chest to machines. “What happened?” he asked as he walked in.

“He got shot,” Andy stated as he followed Seto inside. “Somene found him on the street.” He looked at the machine that displayed his heart rate and blood pressure. “He lost a lot of blood and out of everything he mumbled all we got was your name. He hasn’t been conscious for a while now.”

“Will he be okay?”

“Unless complications occur he should be fine, the wound is treated, he received blood and now he’s on fluids with electrolytes. His blood pressure and heart rate are stable. When he wakes up he should be fine.”

“And when will he wake up?”

Andy shrugged. “I’m a doctor, not a fortune teller.” He looked at Seto. “So, who is he?”

“Alister,” Seto replied.

“And last name? Place of birth?”

Seto remained silent for a moment. “I don’t know his last name,” he said eventually.

“And-”

“I don’t know the name of the city he came from.” Seto abruptly turned around. “All I know is that it was brought back to rubble thanks to Gozaburo and his weapons,” he growled and he left.

Andy remained in the room and watched Seto leave. He sighed, looked at the chart and picked it up. He took a pen from the pocket of his doctors coat and filled in Alister’s name. “Well, Alister, at least we know your name now,” he said and after a last glance at the monitors he too left the room.

 


	15. The nightmare

Seto stepped out of the hospital and he walked straight towards the limousine. The driver, who had leaned against it with a newspaper as he waited for his return, moved to open the door for him.

Someone walked up to them, a man with sunglasses on and a baseball cap on his head. “Mr. Kaiba, do you have a moment?” he asked.

As Seto turned around to dismiss the man he noticed a gun. The shot fired the moment the driver ran towards him and Seto fell back against the car. He clawed at his chest and he raised his trembling hand to see the blood on his fingers. He wheezed as he looked at the man struggling to break free from the driver.

“That is what KaibaCorp is! Death! You hear me?! You still supply weapons to countries at war, you bastard! How does it feel to get shot by one?!”

Seto looked at the man with blurred vision, the words made no sense. He noticed people coming out of the hospital, obviously they had heard the shot. He barely recognized the worried face that appeared in front of him, somewhere in his foggy mind he wondered since when doctors were allowed to have long hair, every doctor he knew had neatly cut and combed hair. No-one had a ponytail. And since when did doctors play duel monsters too? His dazed mind could only come up with questions about the face that filled his narrow vision. He could see the doctor speak to him, he could see the lips move, but he couldn’t hear anything. Slowly everything faded to black.

 

Seto found himself in a devastated city, pieces of concrete, stone bricks, glass, metal and wood littered the broken road. Buildings on either side of the road were brought down to ruins. He walked the streets, searching for something he recognized, searching for anyone who could tell him where he was. The city was familiar to him, but without any landmarks he couldn’t tell where he was. He heard screaming and shouting behind him and he turned around. A group of people, men, women and children, came from behind a corner and ran towards them. They were afraid, but of what? Then he heard the sound of an engine and caterpillar tracks moving over rubble. A tank rounded the corner too and followed the people. The flank of the tank had two big, white letters on it. The letters formed the logo he knew all too well. KC. A tank from KaibaCorp. The nuzzle of the tank moved and even before Seto could react it fired a missile which hit the fleeing people. As the tank continued its course Seto stared at corpses of people who were alive just moment ago. He tasted vomit in his mouth and swallowed heavily. Was this the same city as Alister had shown him, back then on the plane? Seto looked around. Was this the same war? Was this one of Alisters mind tricks again?

“Alister!” he called out, but he heard nothing. “Alister! I know you’re behind this!” He started running, looking for the man he knew was responsible. It had to be Alister, because it had been Alister the first time. He ran through the crumbled city until he ran into a squad of soldiers. The soldiers didn’t notice him, but they did notice a woman with her child further down the road. They aimed their rifles and told the woman to surrender.

“Leave her alone!” Seto ordered, but the soldiers couldn’t hear him.

The woman pleaded for her life and the life of her child, but as soldiers took her away as a prisoner a group of men appeared. Citizens who had taken up arms to protect what was left of their city. They attempted to free the woman and child, but they were outnumbered and outgunned, the soldiers didn’t spare any. They took the woman and child to an uncertain future.

Seto continued walking with trembling legs, he knew he had to find Alister. He could end this. After walking a few streets he came into a fire-fight between opposing soldiers. He watched how a couple of fleeing civilians were hit with bullets not meant for them. The soldiers moved on as they fired on each other, but their victims remained on the ground. Seto sank to his knees, he couldn’t take much more of this. He tried to regain his composure, to be strong as he always was, but all he could do was look at the bodies on the other side of the street.

Suddenly there was a warm light and two pale, slender arms wrapped around him. He put his hand over one of the arms and looked to his right, where he felt a face pressed against his shoulder. “Kisara,” he whispered as he recognized the girl with long, white hair. “Why are you here?”

“To help you, Seto. You can’t wake up like this.”

“Wake up?”

“As long as your heart if heavy like this you can’t wake up.”

Seto looked at the bodies again. “But the things I see here…”

“They come from your own mind.”

“I have no ties to war!” he shouted as he got up. “Why would my mind show me-”

“Because your name is tied to a darker past, you know that and people remind you of that. The last thing you heard was that man accusing you of supplying weapons to a country in war.”

“I never heard-” Seto began, but words echoed in his mind. _“That is what KaibaCorp is! Death! You hear me?! You still supply weapons to countries at war, you bastard! How does it feel to get shot by one?!”_ He paled. “He shot me, am I dead?”

“No, you’re fighting for your life as we speak, but if you give up now, if you can’t go forward now, you will die.” Kisara held his head between her hands and looked at him with a begging and loving eyes. “Please go forward.”

“To see more of this?” Seto questioned as he gestured to the bodies.

“As bad as war may be, some good things happen too.”

“Like what?”

Kisara turned to look at the bodies too and then pointed to a street. “Look,” she said.

And as she spoke a man came from the street, a man with blond hair casually tied in a ponytail. He rushed over to the bodies and checked them. When he found someone alive he started taking care of him.

“What is he doing here?”

“He’s not really here,” Kisara said. “Your mind gave him a place here.”

“I don’t even know him!” Seto looked at the doctor, “I met doctor Bansing twice. Why would I come up with him instead of… Yugi who will whine about the bond of friendship.” The answer to the question presented itself, like before words echoed around in his mind. _“I’ve seen what his weapons caused, as a doctor I’ve been to areas of conflict and… I’m glad you took a different approach for the company.”_ That was it, he knew this man had been at places like this and he recalled the friendly smile and pat on the shoulder. It suddenly made sense why his mind had put him here.

At that moment the doctor looked up and looked straight at him. “I did what I could,” he said to him with a smile. “Now it’s up to you.”

Seto blinked at him and then he noticed how Kisara pointed at the wounded person at the doctor’s feet. Seto’s jaw dropped. It was him, he lay there, wounded and with blood on his chest, but alive. He stared at himself, the background started to fade to black until nothing but he and his other self on the ground were all that remained.

“Wake up, Seto,” he heard Kisara say. “Wake up.” Her voice seemed to grow more distant. “Wake up.” It became a faint whisper. “Wake up.”

 

Seto opened his eyes, he looked around franticly in the small, dark room. Green and red lines and numbers showed on a monitor, he noticed the tubes and the drips, in the dim light near the door he recognized the room as a hospital room, it was a similar one as Alister was in. He grabbed the little box that hung close to his bed so he could call for a nurse.

It didn’t take long before a nurse entered the room.

“How long was I out?” Seto croaked. “What time is it?”

“It’s past midnight,” she told him, “almost 1 a.m. You’ve been here since this afternoon.”

“Get me doctor Bansing.”

“The doctor is at home, mister Kaiba.”

“I want to see him.”

“But, he isn’t on the nightshift, he had a late shift. I can call the doctor of the nightshift-”

“No!” Seto growled. “Call doctor Bansing, I want to see him. Now.”

The nurse seemed to be in doubt.

“Or give me his phone-number and I’ll call him myself!”

“I’ll call him,” the nurse promised and she walked away.

Seto relaxed in his pillow, he hadn’t done anything besides talk, but he felt exhausted. He drifted in a shallow sleep, haunted by images of the man with the gun, Alister in the hospital bed, Kisara, Mokuba. He wasn’t sure how long he had slept when the sound of a door opening and closing woke him up. He noticed Andy walk up to him, wearing his white doctors coat.

“So,” Andy began with a tired smile, he had been asleep when the nurse called after all, “I heard you were awake.”

Seto nodded.

“How do you feel?”

“Exhausted.”

Andy nodded as he looked at the monitor. “That is to be expected, you got shot and lost a lot of blood.” He looked at Seto. “Why did you call me?”

For a moment Seto didn’t answer. Why did he persist in wanted to see the man? Maybe because he was the only doctor he actually trusted at this point. “Did you treat me?”

“Yes. When I heard the gunshot I came to see what happened and when I saw you bleed I ordered a nurse to get a stretcher so we could move you to the OR and stop the bleeding.”

“What did you say to me?”

“What?”

“When I got shot. I remember you talked to me, but I didn’t hear a word.”

“Ah, that can happen.” Andy shrugged a bit. “It was nothing special, just the standard ‘everything will be okay’ speech.”

Seto nodded and closed his eyes. “And Alister?” he muttered. “How’s he?”

“Missing.”

“What?” Seto looked at the doctor. “How can he go missing?”

“Well,” Andy began as he pulled in a chair to sit down. “Alister woke up not long after you were brought to this room. He asked about you and I told him you got shot and that you were two rooms away. He shouted at me and cursed at me, telling me that he warned the people that found him and the people in the hospital about the planned assassination attempt. Of course I pointed out that he probably thought he was speaking full sentences, but that he in fact had done nothing but mutter incoherently, aside from mentioning your name a few times. He told me he would go out, which I strongly advised against. He said he’d seek the people out who were responsible, to which I informed him the man who shot you was already in custody. I thought he gave up as he relaxed in his bed, but an hour later he was gone. And no-one knows where.” Andy looked at Seto, who listened silently. “Your brother started a search for Alister, I told him what happened too. And I send him home around ten, I didn’t think you’d wake up until morning.”

Seto nodded and looked at the ceiling of the room. “I see,” was all he said.

“Am I allowed to go back to bed now?”

“Yes.”

“Good!” Andy got up from the chair. “I’ll see you tomorrow, you’ll stay here for tonight for observation, if nothing happens you’ll go to a recovery room.” He give him a strict look. “And unlike your friend I expect you to stay in the hospital.”

“He’s not my friend,” Seto grumbled.

“Doesn’t look that way,” Andy replied as he walked to the door. He raised his hand as a greeting. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

With his hand on the door handle Andy looked back. “I did my job, but I’m glad you made it.”

Seto decided he wouldn’t explain the gratitude was for more than just for saving his life. It was a dream after all and dreams they didn’t mean anything in real life. After the door closed he looked at the ceiling again, he wondered where Alister had gone to. And if he’d be okay.


	16. The recovery

The next day several people visited Seto, the first one to come was his brother Mokuba. When he asked brother about Alister, he had to admit he hadn’t found him yet, but he would continue to search for him. Seto accepted the answer with a nod of his head.

Both Roland and Melissa came to check on him too, but those were the only ones from the company, much to Seto’s relief. He certainly didn’t want to listen to people spewing nonsense about a speedy recovery they didn’t mean.

Yugi came, the short teen seemed genuinely worried about him. That was something Seto didn’t understand, he had never hidden the fact he wasn’t interested in his friendship, but here he was enjoying Yugi’s company. Things had changed between them after everything they had done and had gone through together, and he could live with this change. The thing he was most grateful about was that Yugi hadn’t taken Wheeler with him. The last thing he wanted was that dweep at the side of his bed.

Seto sat up in his bed, watching the news channel, when doctor Bansing came to check on him during his round. It was impossible not to think about the dream last night when he looked at him. Nor could he forget the simple pat on the back from the day before. The last time anyone had done that was when he was a young child and that person had been his own father. For a moment grief welled up, but he pushed it back. His father was dead for a few years now, there was no need to be sentimental about it now.

The door opened in the middle of Andy’s explanation about the rest of the treatment and both of them looked up. Alister stumbled in and wobbled over to the bed.

“Well, look who’s back,” Andy said cheerfully.

“Did anyone else come?” Alister asked Seto, ignoring the doctor.

“No-one. Should I expect someone to try again?”

“Probably not, I think they got the point, but you should be careful.”

Seto nodded, deciding that it was best not to ask how they got the point. He saw how Andy put a hand on Alister’s  shoulder and directed him to a chair.

“I’m fine,” Alister protested.

“My keen doctors observation tells me otherwise,” Andy replied. “Sit down and let me see the stitches.”

Reluctantly Alister complied and pulled up his shirt. The bandage wrapped around his body had a big, red stain on the left side and Andy shook his head.

“Let’s stitch that again, shall we?” he asked, but he didn’t wait for an answer. He gathered what he needed to do so and when Alister tried to get up he simply pushed him down again. “I warned you to take it easy. You obviously didn’t.” He examined the pale skin as he put on some latex gloves. “I’m going to let you stay another night as well, you need the rest and I don’t trust you to do so at home.”

Alister didn’t respond to that and allowed the doctor to remove the bandage, clean the wound and stitch it again.

On the news channel the topic changed to the current war elsewhere on the planet. Both Seto and Alister watched it in silence.

“That reminds me,” Andy said without looking up from his work, “tomorrow another doctor will do the follow-up, I’m leaving tonight. A good part of that city is in ruins with this war and they requested humanitarian aid. I’m one of the doctors who will assist medically.”

Immediately Seto thought back to his dream and the conversation he had with the doctor the day before, when he mentioned he had been to areas of conflict before. “Do you need anything?” he heard himself ask.

Andy looked up. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Supplies, transportation.”

 “No, I think the Red Cross has gathered what we need.” Andy returned his attention to the stitching. “But if we run out of anything you’ll be the first I’ll call.” He finished up closing the wound and wrapped a clean bandage around it. “So, that’s it. I’ll make sure to book a double room so you and your friend can catch up.”

“We’re not friends,” both Alister and Seto said.

Andy looked from one to the other as he removed his gloves. “I stand corrected.” He greeted them with a tap on the side of his head with an index finger and left the room. Soon after Alister left the room as well.

 

Later that day a nurse brought Seto to his new room in a wheel chair. With the barely healed wound and the pain medication it was advised he wouldn’t walk too much. He had protested, but somehow doctor Bansing had managed to persuade him to take the wheelchair anyway.

When he reached the room he brought a hand to his head and sighed. “Apparently he put us together in a room after all,” he said.

“It looks like it,” Alister said from the bed he lay on.

The nurse helped Seto in the bed and checked the drip before leaving.

For a while they just lay in bed silently, neither had something they wanted to say to the other and they kept themselves busy with their own thoughts.

“Why did you want to warn me about them?” Seto finally asked. “You feel the same way about KaibaCorp as that man who shot me.”

“I gave you a chance to prove yourself. If you’re dead you can’t prove me anything.” He turned his head so he could look at Seto. “Why did you offer help to the doctor?”

“That’s… complicated.” The last thing he wanted was to talk about that dream, it was something he didn’t understand either. Why had she been in his dream again? The girl from the past. Kisara. Thinking about her gave him a warm feeling inside, but she wasn’t even real. Was she?

“What’s on your mind?” Alister asked.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I don’t understand it myself. But there is one thing I do understand.”

“What’s that?”

Seto looked at Alister. “What it is to lose your parents.” He saw how Alister looked at him and he continued. “We had different lives, but the two things we have in common are growing up without parents and duel monsters.”

“You had a father,” Alister disagreed. “Gozaburo-”

“Gozaburo was my step-father. I was eight when Mokuba and I were put in an orphanage and ten when Gozaburo adopted us.” He looked at the ceiling again. “It was tough, living with that man, but at least we weren’t in the orphanage anymore. When I took over his company I had what I needed to make a future for me and Mokuba. And I won’t let anyone take that away from me.” He turned over to his side and reached for the phone.

“Who are you calling?”

“Mokuba. I won’t stay in bed all day doing nothing. I got shot, but I can still work. I know someone in my board of directors really wants to come out that virtual war game and I think I know how to find out which one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the age Seto is somewhat of a dispute, especially his age when we see him for the first time. For the adoption I went with the Japanese version where he was 10 when that happened, instead of 12 in the English version.


	17. Tying up loose ends

Seto stayed in the hospital for one more day, then he went back home. He still had to take it easy, but he didn’t need to stay in the hospital. He stayed at home for another day, working from there on his laptop. While Mokuba took care of the company, he focused on finding that weasel who either thought the game was a fantastic idea or that this was a great way to take over the company. The one who started the rumour, the one who send out the cardboard displays, the one who had been buying stocks.

For two days Seto had searched through files, financial data and reports about the matter from both Melissa and Roland. Now he was busy confirming the suspicion he had. A smile formed when he found what he was looking for. Finally he would be able to deal with this.

 

The next day Seto sat at his desk in his office, the wound on his chest still ached, but that was something he did his best to ignore. Mokuba, Melissa, Roland and Alister sat on the couch and waited in silence. Seto had a meeting with the first three and had decided to invite Alister to the party. He had promised him to prove the game wasn’t his idea and the best way to do that was to let him see the man who was responsible.

Someone knocked on the door and opened it after a curt request to come in from Seto.

“Mr. Johnson,” Seto said. “Sit down.”

The board director seemed a little uneasy, but did as he was told. He fidgeted with his fingers as he awaited the reason why he was called up here.

“I will make it brief, mr. Johnson. You’re fired.”

“What? On what ground?!”

“Damaging the reputation of our company, going against my wishes, trying to get in control because you think you can do a better job. If I could prove you were involved in my shooting I’d fire you for that reason too.”

“You have no proof!” mr. Johnson exclaimed as he got up from his chair.

“Oh please, I had five directors who worked together with Pegasus, kidnapped my brother and tried to assassinate me because they wanted to own the company. Do you really think I don’t keep a close eye on all of you now?” He narrowed his eyes. “I have proof,” he added as he showed a disc. “There are breadcrumbs all over the place, leading to you. I found the trial.” He paused as he looked at the nervous man. Without a word he opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a file. The same file he had shown Alister a while ago, it contained the ideas and schematics of the virtual war game, with the stamp ‘denied’ on it. He threw it on the desk. “You liked the idea from the virtual technology department. If you insist this is a good idea, take it to Zigfried von Schroeder. Sell it to him, but without using my name. If you fail to do that, I will make your life miserable.” He smirked. “And you know I can.”

Mr. Johnson didn't reply, he just stared at Seto.

“And if he accepts it,” Seto continued, “remind him to use the weapons from the closed down military departments of Schroeder Corp and not the KC weaponry. I will sue him for everything he has if he ever uses anything from me. That being said, take any other piece of our information or technology to him and I’ll destroy you."

The four at the couch stared at him in disbelief, did he really just give someone permission to take this idea to his rival?

“Is… this a trap?” mr. Johnson asked suspiciously.

“Not at all. You are fired, but if you wish to make a deal with this particular idea, I will allow it.” His face was completely neutral as he spoke and he met the suspicious look from his former director of the art department. They looked at each other for a while, but eventually the man took the file.

“So there are no further consequences?”

“You are fired and I expect you to leave instantly, but I won’t press any charges and I won’t come after you or Zigfried for releasing this game.”

Mr. Johnson took the file, looked around the room a final time and left.

“What did you do?” Melissa asked.

Seto leaned back in his chair with a pleased smile. “If Zigfried comes out with the game everyone talks about, they will forget about the ties to KaibaCorp. And Zigfried will think it’s a victory over me if he’ll produce the game first.”

“Good thinking, sir,” Melissa said, but at the same time Alister jumped up from the couch.

“That is your solution?” he asked. “You let someone else produce a game like that?”

“Oh, I know him better than you do, the moment he heard about this idea he started working on his own version. And if he hadn’t, there will be another company who agrees it’s a profitable idea.” Seto picked up a pen from the desk and twirled it between his fingers. “And it is, I’m certain such a game would sell well. War-games, first person shooters are popular games, but it’s something I refuse to do.” He threw the pen back on the desk and locked eyes with Alister. “Happy now?”

Alister got up without answering and walked to the door. At the door he paused and looked back. “You seem to have some decency after all, Seto Kaiba.” He opened the door. “I’ll be in town for a little while longer. If you want to hang out, you know how to reach me.”

 “I’ll let you know.” He watched Alister leave. Sharing a room in the hospital had done them good, there was little else to do than talk and they had. They had never been friends, but he didn’t mind Alister as much as he had.

And Mokuba was even more optimistic, he watched their exchange and thought that maybe, one day, they could become friends.

 

Seto met up with Alister a few times and he started to appreciate his company. When Alister mentioned he might stay in Domino city Seto was surprised, but what surprised him more was that he liked the idea. Alister explained that after Doma he had travelled around to find a place where he could begin a new life, but hadn’t been able to find any place to settle. He had looked for other survivors of his city, but hadn’t been able to locate them. Now, he felt, it was time to move on with his life and Seto was, as he put it, the only one he knew. He carefully arranged his words to avoid the word ‘friend’, neither of them were ready to view each other like that.

If Mokuba had been there he would have been glad to see how their bond had grown stronger.

Another person Seto met up with was Andy. When he heard doctor Bansing had returned he went to the hospital to see him. Even though he wasn’t sure why.  
They talked about what Andy had experienced and by the end of their conversation Andy invited him to a game of snooker. It was a game Seto had never played before, he was good in chess and duel monsters, but those were the only games he played. He agreed to go, especially when Andy explained it was more than hitting a ball and try to put it in a hole, but involved calculating angles and speed to get the ball where it needed to be.

One thing Seto learned was that Andy had no family of his own, he didn’t have any children even though he always did want them. The closest thing he had to that was a nephew who was a couple of years older than Seto and studied to be an archaeologist. Seto thought about Yugi’s grandfather and couldn’t help but sigh about the prospect of another archaeologist in his circle of acquaintances. Still, he started to enjoy the occasional game of snooker, during which they had interesting conversations. The thought occurred that both had a need for this, he didn’t have a father and Andy didn’t have a son. Regardless, playing snooker with Andy became a monthly habit and one he looked forward to.

He also spend a little more time with Yugi, ever since the last tournament he felt more at ease with him. The rivalry between them had subsided somewhat and Yugi was the only one he could talk to about ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh and, more importantly, Kisara. He shared the dreams he had with Yugi, because he felt he was the one who could understand them. Kisara, every time he thought about her he felt warm inside. ?

Of course Mokuba was there, as always. His younger brother who was the only person who really mattered in his life.

  
As expected, Zigfried came out with a virtual war game which was under heavy protest by concerned parents, but welcomed by gamers.

With the new duelling system selling well, the reputation of the company being good again, the three people he occasionally spend time with and his loyal brother, Seto felt his life was pretty good.


End file.
